My Montessori Journey

Parts of a Tree booklets (and other tree "stuff")

We have begun to study trees in the classroom during the past few weeks.  I love introducing children to concepts about nature.  We started our study by learning the parts of trees.  I used the puzzle shown below from Montessori Concepts to teach them the parts.  One thing I love about teaching children about nature is all the specific vocabulary that can be introduced to them.  Even though I know how much children are capable of learning, I have learned not to take for granted what they do or don't know.  For example, when presenting this puzzle to the group, I was a little surprised how many of them didn't know the correct words for "trunk" or "roots".  That's what is so amazing and awe-inspiring about working with this age group.  When you work with preschoolers you are truly giving them the words for the world around them, words that will become an intrinsic and inherent part of who they are.........and all because you took a few seconds to tell them the specific name for something.  So powerful!

 

After learning about the parts of trees during group time, I put out a "Parts of Trees" booklet activity for them to do during our work period.  You can see it set up in the photos below. 

 

Attached to the back of the shelf is a set of "control" cards that the children may refer to so they color the correct parts of the blank tree booklet pages.

I had the booklets already prepared thanks to some of my helpful parents at our Materials Making Night in August.  These were placed in a basket next to a little tray with the word labels. 

 

Also on the shelf were the colored pencils needed for coloring and a basket with scissors, gluesticks and gluing mats.

 

Here is a completed page from one child's booklet.  When I presented the lesson I modeled coloring the pages first, then cutting apart the labels and matching them to the correct pages using the control cards.

 

The child in the photo below is coloring her "roots" page. 

 

And here it is........

I have had children as young as three years old complete these little booklets.  What a sense of pride and accomplishment they feel when they can take home something so amazing that they've made by themselves!  I am sure their parents will treasure these little booklets.

I love it when the children transfer their learning and demonstrate it in new contexts.  Shortly after I had introduced the tree puzzle and booklet work, a child spontaneously drew the picture shown below during work time.  He brought it to me to show that he had drawn all the parts of the tree.  I thought this was just awesome! 

 

We are fortunate to have a parent who is an arborist.  I asked him if he could bring us a slice of a tree trunk so the children could look at it up close and learn about tree rings, etc. This week he brought a piece of Ponderosa pine.  It is really huge and he estimated the tree to be over 70 years old.  The children have loved looking at it up close with the magnifying glass.  It smells really good too!

 

Life Cycle of an Apple Tree work

This week we are picking apples from a tree near our playground.  We have been walking by this tree every day on our way to recess and we usually stop beneath it to sing our new apple song.  We have borrowed a few "apple pickers" from our families since the branches are too tall for us to reach. Next week we are going to bake little apple pies with our apples.  I will be sure to post about that process....so stay tuned.

At group time this week we are learning a little more about how apples grow.  I have read parts from the book How Do Apples Grow? by Betsy Maestro.  This book has beautiful illustrations and lots of great information about the life cycle of an apple tree.

 

On our science shelf this week is an activity where the children can sequence a set of photos to show the life cycle of an apple tree.  To make this work I used images from a free download from Montessori for Everyone.  It is under the "Botany" section in the free downloads.  Lori has so many beautiful mateirals on her website.  I have purchased many from her.  I also have a set of printed and laminated apple life cycle 3-part cards on the shelf.  I used those to make the cut and paste paper for this activity.

This is how I've set up the materials on a tray on my science shelf.  There is a little woven tray which holds the cut-apart pictures.  I copied them on a color copier and they look awesome!  Then there is a stack of white (cheap-o) paper plates which have an address label stuck to the middle.  It says, "Life Cycle of An Apple Tree."  You can download a sheet of the labels using the link below.  And we have a little basket with scissors, gluestick and gluing mat.

Download Life Cycle of Apple Tree labels

 

This completed life cycle plate is stuck on the wall near the science shelf to use as a control for the work.  I love using a plate for life cycle activities instead of a booklet because they really demonstrate the cyclical nature of life cycles so well.

 

Garden Playdough Work

I haven't had play dough out for a while although I've had this activity in my mind for a while.  I finally mixed up a batch of chocolate playdough yesterday and put this out in the classroom this morning.  As I predicted, the children really enjoyed this work and it reinforces what we've been learning in our plants unit.

I usually set the playdough up on a table instead of having it set up for children to carry from the shelf.  I have been adding a bottle of hand sanitizer for them to use before handling the dough.  In the photo below from the top and going clockwise are:  a container with the "dirt" dough (I only put about half of the batch of homemade playdough in the container), a box with a rolling pin, flower pots, and a spoon for "digging" the dirt out of the pots, a bucket with carrots to plant, a basket with flowers to plant, and the bottle of hand sanitizer.

The flowers are flower picks which I bought in the floral/wedding section of Michael's.  I know they have these at Hobby Lobby too.  They are perfect for this work because they are very lightweight, but the wire stems are sturdy enough for them to stay upright in the dough without falling over.

I found the teeny terra cotta flower pots in the floral section of Michael's.  HobLob has similar ones.  Today we found that the dough really sticks to the inside so I added a spoon to help scoop out the dough.

I've had these wooden carrots forever and can't tell you a source.  They were originally on a jute rope and I think were part of an Easter swag decoration.  I cut them off the rope for this activity.  You can see the little bumps of rope on the sides.

Here is a flower garden that was planted in our classroom this morning.

   
 

Parts of a Plant

I adapted a worksheet from Kidssoup to make this Parts of a Plant work.  Since my little ones mostly cannot write the labels in the blanks (which is what the original worksheet called for) I made up a little table in Microsoft Word and typed the word labels into it.  Thus a cut and paste Parts of a Plant activity was born.  I set it up as shown below.

Here you can see the papers and the little table of labels that I created.

Below is the sample that my oldest son made.  It is posted on the bulletin board just to the left of the work area.  To do this work the child first cuts apart the labels.  Then they lay them on the paper and have a teacher check.  Once their work is checked they may glue the labels in place and then color their paper.

 
  

Matching Vegetables and Seeds

To go with our study of plants and seeds I put out a seed matching activity that I made a LONG time ago when I previously taught in a Montessori preschool classroom.  To make this work I bought 2 identical packages of several types of seeds.  I used these to make 3-part cards with the seed packet and corresponding seeds.  I cannot remember the type of laminator I used for this.  The one I use at my current school I know would not accommodate seeds going through it.  An alternative would be using a teeny tiny ziploc baggie (like the ones used for jewelry and found in a craft store) to hold the seeds.  I would tape the top shut and then tape it to the card with clear packing tape.

Below you can see the cards in the adorable little vegetable basket that I scored at a Salvation Army store this weekend.  I think the basket was about 79 cents.  Perfect for a Montessori teacher looking for a cute place to store her vegetable cards.

Here you can see the "lettuce" cards.  The large cards are on the bottom of the basket with the "seed packet" and "seed" cards on top.

To do this work the child lays out the large cards then matches the seed packet and seed cards to it as shown below.

 
 

Planting Seeds

This week I have set up a planting seeds activity.  Hopefully we will have enough time before our last day of school (May 21st) for the seeds to start sprouting.  I used sunflower seeds because I thought the children would enjoy taking them home and planting them outdoors when school is out.  I bought little pots that can be planted in the ground without removing the plant itself. 

Below you can see how I set this up.  Although I set it up for the children to be independent, I did have my assistant monitor them to be sure they didn't flood their pots with water.

To identify each child's pot, a teacher wrote their name on the outside with a black Sharpie marker.  You can see the basket of pots, a tub of potting soil and a fun little flower placemat.

Here is a little yellow bucket filled with sunflower seeds.

And a tray with a spoon for scooping the soil into the pots and a pencil for poking a hole in which to plant 2 seeds.  There is a separate tray with a watering can for watering the soil once the seeds are planted.

 
 

We are keeping the plant pots in baskets on our classroom windowsill.  Each day the children will use a misting bottle to give their seeds a drink of water.
 
 

Chicken Life Cycle Work

To go with our study of birds, and chickens in particular, I set up a Chicken Life Cycle project.  I like to do life cycle work on paper plates........the circular layout reinforces the cyclical nature of a life cycle better than a left to right sequence of pictures.  To make this activity I began with a worksheet that I copied from the back of THIS Chicken Life Cycle poster.

I adapted the life cycle shown below to create this activity.  In its existing format it would not be appropriate for young children.  I am pretty particular about the paper activities I put out in the classroom and usually find that I need to modify existing worksheets to be suitable for little ones.

I copied, cut and pasted the pictures from the life cycle to create the grid of pictures shown below.  I wanted my students to practice cutting and pasting when doing this work.  It helps them a lot if they have visible lines to cut on.  After copying and cutting the pictures I glued them to a blank paper and drew lines with a Sharpie marker to make my master copy. 

I also printed "Life Cycle of a Chicken" labels on the computer and adhered them to the middle of the paper plates as shown below.

 Below you can see how I set up the activity.  To do this work, the children take a page of pictures and a paper plate (the plates shown in the photo didn't have the "life cycle" labels attached).  First, they color the pictures using the colored pencils on the little tray.  Second, they cut the pictures out on the lines.  Third, they lay the pictures out onto the plate in the correct order and have a teacher check their work.  Finally, after the teacher checks their work they glue the pictures onto the plate to complete the life cycle.

Below is a sample life cycle made by my oldest son.  I attached this to the shelf for the children to refer to when doing their work.

 
 
 

Learning Manifested

As I mentioned a few posts ago, I have been so happy with our classroom study of birds.  However, I realize that I have not written much about it.  So........that is the focus of this post.

I love to help children know nature "by name".  What I mean is that I love to introduce children to the specific vocabulary of their world so they can greet nature as you would greet a friend (i.e.  "Hello, Cardinal"  instead of "Hello, Birdie").

One of my most vivid childhood memories is of a hike I took with my dad on the property across the road from us.  Our property had trees but not what you would call timber.  Our neighbors, however, did have some timber and must have at some point given my dad permission to take us hiking there.  What I really remember about the hike is my dad pointing a tiny white flower out to me and telling me it's name.  It was a wildflower called "Dutchman's breeches".  It is a flower that looks just like a pair of white pants hanging on a clothesline.  I can still recall how important and special I felt to know the correct name of a little wildflower.  I am pretty sure my dad will not remember the hike nor telling me the name of that flower.  To him, it was a small, incidental conversation.......something he probably didn't spend a lot of time thinking about.  To me.........it was a gift.  My parents also grew a huge vegetable garden and grew many flowers.  They took the time to tell me the names of each vegetable and flower.  They taught me to know nature "by name".  I took this knowledge for granted until I realized that not everyone in the world has the same level of nature vocabulary.  My husband, for example, cannot name most of the common flowers even though I have been trying to teach him.  Granted, his interest in learning their names is not as high as, perhaps, his interest in other vocabulary.  As a college professor who teaches biomechanics and human physiology, his science vocabulary greatly exceeds mine.  And there is a good chance that his parents DID talk to him about various plants and flowers and he was just more interested in other things.  Anyway.........I digress, but I wanted to illustrate why I believe teaching children the specific vocabulary of their world is important.  It is something that they will retain forever, but also something that they will not attain without exposure.

When preparing for our bird unit I decided that I wanted my students to learn the names of several birds that are common to our area.  I chose:  chickadee, cardinal, blue jay, bluebird, robin, goldfinch, meadowlark, red-winged blackbird, sparrow, hummingbird, and red-headed woodpecker.  I have a set of birds that were part of a bulletin board set.  I laminated them and used them to teach the children the name of each bird.  I have Googled like crazy and haven't been able to find this set.  I bought it over 10 years ago so it probably isn't made anymore.  The photo below shows the "work" I made using this set.  I had two of each bird, so I laminated one (it is the shape and size of the actual bird and colored on both sides) and glued an identical one onto a piece of red construction paper so the children could match them.  I also used these at group time giving a bird and a "card" to each child and having them "pair up" and name their bird.

Also as part of this unit I purchased THIS Backyard Birdsongs book at the recommendation of Melissa from Chasing Cheerios.  It has a little built-in device that plays the actual songs of birds.  I was able to use this to teach the children to recognize the songs of the birds we learned.  They LOVED having me play a song to see if they could name what bird makes that song.  I was so impressed with how well many of the children learned to identify different bird songs.  We have been listening for and naming bird songs as we go outside to recess each day. I am excited that I, too, can now listen to a bird's song and identify what bird is making it even if the bird itself is not visible.

I know this is getting to be a long post, but I also wanted to share how our learning about birds has manifested itself in various ways.  The two scenarios I describe here illustrate why I believe I have the best job in the world.  It is truly a joy to watch children's learning unfold and become an embedded part of who they are.

Within the last few weeks, several of the little boys in my class were playing a "bird" game at recess.....a game totally of their own imaginations.  I became aware of their play as one little boy zoomed past me, arms outstretched, announcing........"I'm a Robin.  The Cardinal and Red-Winged Blackbird are trying to get me."  I loved hearing those exuberant words, tossed from the "beak" of one of my little learners.

Also within the last few weeks I have put out some birds and butterflies on our art shelf to be pin-punched.  These are just traced outlines of a bird or butterfly, draw by a teacher with a pen onto a 6 inch square of construction paper.  We change these shapes seasonally or to go with what we are studying.  I knew that once spring arrived my little ones would love making birds and butterflies to take home.  What I didn't anticipate was the creativity and prior learning that some would apply to this task.  Imagine my joy and surprise when I discovered two little boys using our bird models (described above.....the laminated ones) to add crayoned details to their punched-out birds.  Not only did they make birds, they wanted to make SPECIFIC birds and to color them accurately.  Keep in mind that this project was prompted completely from their own minds.  Ah.......the beauty of a Montessori prepared environment.........a perfect setting for learning to truly become manifested in its many variations.

Below you can see one boy punching out his bird.......the goldfinch model is sitting right next to his work area along with a little jar of crayons which he will use to add details.

The finished goldfinch

And here is the second boy punching out his bird which is to become a blue bird.

And the finished blue bird along with a blue jay.

 
   

Isn't learning awesome?  And why is it that so many adults (and children) lose that joy somewhere along the way?  Yep, my job is the BEST!!

Hatching Baby Chicks

I feel that I have to start by apologizing for not posting in a while.  The first year I wrote the blog I did a post every day.  I haven't been able to keep up that pace since then.  Anyway..........a LOT has been going on in my classroom that I'd like to share.

You may remember that we have been studying birds for several weeks.  We are just ending our study and I have been so pleased and amazed with what the children have learned.  In fact, there are a few more bird-related posts in the works about that. 

Today I wanted to share that we have been incubating chicken eggs in our classroom for the past 20 days.  Hopefully within the next day or so we will have hatched chicks...........they take 21 days to hatch.  We have 2 incubators........one is big......it's in my office and has 17 eggs in it.  It could hold many more than that.  You can see that one pictured below.  We are borrowing this incubator from my assistant, Melissa. 

The other incubator holds three eggs and was donated to our classroom by one of our families.

I used some money from a recent fundraiser to purchase this Chick Life Cycle Exploration Kit.  You can buy one just like this one HERE.  It is very cool.  Inside the storage box are 21 plastic eggs. Inside each egg is a drawing which depicts the chick embryo's state of development on that particular day.

Here you can see what the box looks like when you open it.

Each day during our first line time we open the eggs for that day and see what our chick embryos look like.  The children have loved seeing how the chicks are developing inside their eggs.  This set was a great investment.  I highly recommend it if you hatch chicks on a regular basis.

 
 
I will post with photos as soon as we have baby chicks.  In the meantime I'm saying lots of prayers and crossing my fingers so that we have something to "crow" about.  I have sweated out two recent thunderstorms, worrying that the power would go out.  Luckily we have almost made it to Day 21 with no power failures. 
 

Color Mixing

Color mixing is an activity that you would find in most Montessori classrooms.  I had not yet put it out this school year, however.  Recently I came across this great little color wheel activity on Mama Jenn's blog and thought it would be awesome for setting up as an independent activity.  First I copied the color wheel from Mama Jenn on white cardstock and laminated it.  Then I added 3 eye dropper jars with red, yellow, and blue colored water, a jar of toothpicks, a sponge and sponge holder, a basket of paper towels, and a jar with a pencil.  This work is set up on a table as shown below.

 

To do this work, the child first takes a paper towel and uses the pencil to write their name at the bottom.  They then replace the paper towel in the basket to use later.  Next, they use the eye droppers to transfer droplets of water onto the corresponding colored dots on the color wheel template as shown in the photo below.

After the water droplets are transferred, they use a toothpick to stir the drops together to mix the colors as shown below.  Instead of using a new toothpick for each circle, I just showed them to wipe the toothpick on the sponge after each mixing.

Once all the colors have been stirred they carefully place the paper towel on top.

The result is a color wheel that they have created and that they may take home.  How cool is that?  I love this work and the children do too.  A final step is to use the sponge to wipe all remaining water droplets off the template.